Study: Long-term use of anxiety and sleeping pills can increase Alzheimer’s risk

Anx­i­ety and sleep­ing pills ‘linked to demen­tia’ (BBC):

“A study of old­er Cana­di­an adults found that past ben­zo­di­azepine use for three months or more was linked to an increased risk (up to 51%) of dementia…Benzodiazepines are used to treat anx­i­ety dis­or­ders and insomnia.

Dr James Pick­ett, head of research at the Alzheimer’s Soci­ety, said with 1.5 mil­lion peo­ple in the UK being pre­scribed ben­zo­di­azepines at any one time, “evi­dence that their long-term use increas­es the risk of demen­tia is sig­nif­i­cant, and rais­es ques­tions about their use”.

Despite pub­lished guid­ance on their appro­pri­ate use for short-term man­age­ment, inap­pro­pri­ate pre­scrib­ing of the drugs is still a concern.

Experts are call­ing for bet­ter mon­i­tor­ing of side-effects, par­tic­u­lar­ly in old­er adults.”

To learn more:

• Study: Ben­zo­di­azepine use and risk of Alzheimer’s dis­ease: case-con­trol study (BMJ)
• Six tips to build resilience and pre­vent brain-dam­ag­ing stress